


can i ask you something?

by LonelyLavenderBones



Category: Star Wars Sequel Trilogy
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Awkward Flirting, F/M, Ficlet, Rey is hopeless, So is Ben
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-02
Updated: 2020-01-02
Packaged: 2021-02-27 13:02:21
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 996
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22077397
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LonelyLavenderBones/pseuds/LonelyLavenderBones
Summary: Rey is a regular at the dive bar where Ben Solo tends bar. After nights of flirting from across the bar, she thinks he's finally noticed her. Too bad all he wants is to pick her brain about what to get his estranged mother for Christmas. Or is that all?
Relationships: Kylo Ren/Rey, Rey/Ben Solo | Kylo Ren
Comments: 10
Kudos: 147
Collections: House Cryber Holiday Cookie Exchange, One-shots and Ficlets





	can i ask you something?

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Kate_Reid](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Kate_Reid/gifts).



_Hey… Rey, you’re a girl._

She should have known whatever was going to be following that line was going to be trouble. But sitting in her regular spot at the bar, nursing a gin and tonic, Rey let herself indulge the awkward bartender instead of teasing him.

It was part of the reason she had become a regular at the dive bar, the gruff back and forth between her and Ben. She definitely wasn’t coming back for the atmosphere or the tobacco smoke that clouded the entrance where a few locals could always be found with a bottle of beer and bumming cigarettes from one another.

No, instead, she liked the mixed drinks and the man who made them. Ben was a hulk of a man, sullen, and tad bit awkward for a man who worked for tips.

“Yes,” she had replied, pointedly glancing down at herself. “Well, the last time I checked I was a girl.”

As his eyes darted to the glass he’d been cleaning in his hand and his ears turned a slight pink, she felt herself soften.

“I shouldn’t have asked,” was his grumbled reply as she tapped the counter with her nails the best that they could. She kept them short as anything too long would get in the way and anything properly manicured would get ruined. 

“If you want to ask me something, just ask me.” Her heart began to race a touch, but she couldn’t let herself get excited. Wouldn’t let herself get excited. The question in and of itself let her know that he hadn’t really seen her as a woman, just as a regular costumer. She couldn’t be upset about that, not really.

Just because she liked to try and tease him into a rare smile that left her feeling as she managed to uncover his deepest secret, shared just with her.

He cleared his throat, finally looking up at her with a question in his amber eyes.

 _Don’t get excited._ Just because she thought it didn’t mean her heart didn’t lift. This was it. Finally, he _saw_ her. Not as his bantering barfly, but as a woman—

“So, I’ve got to get a gift for my mom for Christmas,” he explained as he set the glass in his hand on the counter.

 _Heart_ , she thought. _Keep it together. You’re not breaking… because you remind him of his mother. Fuck._

“I haven’t seen her in years, and I don’t… know what… you get moms, you know?” he continued, expression open and expecting on that long face of his that was normally so guarded. Another secret, just for her. “Like, when I was a kid, I just made her macaroni art and that was fine. I don’t think I can get away with that nowadays.”

“Okay, well,” she swirled the stirrer in her drink as she looked down at the fizzing tonic water. A bitter laugh fell from her lips. “I've never given anything to my mom, so you’re already lightyears ahead of me. In the commercials it looks like they like those fruit baskets that look like flowers or pajama-grams.”

“I was thinking about getting her a charm bracelet?” The question lifted at the end, uncertain as Rey’s eyes darted up at him.

“No, don’t do that,” she said, shaking her head. “A woman can’t do a thing with a charm bracelet other than wait for their partner or kid to give them another damn charm every holiday. She’ll say she loves it, but it’ll just stay in her jewelry box until someone gets her the next charm.”

“Yeah?” he asked that deep tone of his lifting ever so slightly with forced casualness. “So, uh, your boyfriend got you one of those?”

 _Boyfriend?_ Who did he think she was dating? The last time she’d brought anyone home it had been an awful Tinder date that had left her walking funny for all the wrong reasons.

“My ex got me a heart-shaped necklace,” she admitted slowly, her mind working slowly as her hopes started to rise again. “No woman wants a heart-shaped necklace. It means, ‘I didn’t know what to get you, but this was kind of expensive, so I figured you’d like it.’ That’s another thing women won’t wear.”

“So, no charm bracelet, and no heart necklace,” he mused quietly to himself. “See, this is why I asked you. You seem like you’ve got taste.”

Rey guffawed, choking on a sip of her drink.

“You alright?”

“Y-Yeah,” she snorted, fizz burning her nostrils from climbing up her throat. “I just… I come in here looking like a goddamn grease monkey every time I’m here. You don’t want your mother to have my taste.”

“Nah, but that one time you brought your boyfriend in,” he said slowly. “Uh, you… you looked nice. You had your hair down and… I’m making this awkward. You’ve got that boyfriend and all.”

“What boyfriend are you talking about? I don’t have a boyfriend.”

“You brought a guy by here a few months back. About your height, black hair. You guys laughed a lot and you left with him?”

“That was a Tinder date, Ben,” she laughed. “One that went very badly. Don’t you think I would have mentioned him if I was dating him? Maybe brought him around? I wouldn’t be hitting on the bartender twice a week, that’s for sure.”

Oh shit.

Oh fuck.

_Time to find a new bar._

Ben blinked, taking the words in slowly as they dawned on him before a grin spread across his face.

“You like me.”

“No, I come here for the atmosphere,” she laughed sarcastically, any fucks she gave gone. “Yes, I like you. Fuck, we sound like middle-schoolers. What about you, Ben? Do you like me? Check yes or no.”

“Yeah… Yeah, I like you.” An awkward silence swept over them as they stared at each other. “So, uh… if I get you a gift, no charm bracelets and no heart shaped jewelry?”

**Author's Note:**

> I know the prompt was for Rey to help both Ben and Leia out with their Christmas presents for each other, but... I got a little carried away with the awkward bar flirting. I hope that's all right! It was fun to write.


End file.
